Norwegians have earned big money investing in the acquisition of cheap agricultural land in Romania, wrote newspaper Nationen.
The Norwegian investment company Northbridge owns 40,200 acres of agricultural land in two different locations in Romania. The company began to invest in Romania in 2008, and investors who have been involved from the start, have had a return of 30 percent, the company said to Nationen.
Northbridge is a Cyprus-agricultural company that owns land in Romania through several subsidiaries. The company cultivates corn, wheat, barley, and sunflowers, among other agricultural produce.
In an EU report from 2015 Romania came in first place of places where there are so-called land robbery, ie the major players are buying up land in areas from small farmers at a very low prices. Now the Romanian government urges the country’s small farmers not to sell land to foreigners.
– Ownership of land has become a highly inflamed political issue. Industrial agriculture has become more extensive and more professional after Romania joined the EU. Subsidies are the cause, says Tomas Dinu, dean of the University of Agronomy in Bucharest, according to Nationen.
– The large scale high productivity has a social price. It is well documented that the places where big players own most of the land, are also the places with the most poverty, he said.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
